Fly-Fishing Report 11.17.16

[John Jarosz]

It was a dark & stormy nite. Not really, but I always wanted to write that. Daylight was trying to peak out but it was so foggy this a.m. you couldn't see G. I. from Isle View.

Ryan Shea called me last night & asked if there was anything in a scrambled egg, bacon, sausage & cheese sandwich that I'm allergic to. I told him "he77 no", I'm Polish & the Polish know how to eat! At 7:00 a.m. this morning he greets me at the ramp with a home-made sandwich made of said ingredients & a thermos full of strong home-brewed coffee. After a breakfast like that I was ready to take a nap in the Tacoma. Fly-fishing was slowly moving down the list. Maybe it also had something to do with the 37 deg air temp.

He gives me a couple packets of hand-warmers for the journey up river. The ride was so foggy I saw him watching the GPS to navigate up River to avoid buoys & bridge abutments. It's going to be an interesting ride. By 7:30 we're slinging flies in UN3.

10 minutes into it, Ryan has a nice, well-above 40 incher follow his fly into & around the figure 8, then lazily turn & swim away. By that time it feels like 82 deg instead of 37. Mornings like that turn out only two ways though.

Half hour later he says "let's go to Blue Water." We're fishing there & I trust it's his spot. I look behind me & I can't see Blue Water much less Grand Island. I look to my right to gage my orientation to Motor. Can't see that either. Oh, well.

My very first cast out at that spot brings in a high 30's follow. It gives me the middle fin & turns away with a bored look on its face. Two follows in 30 minutes. Could be a great day or it could be a bad day.

Seven hours after that & hitting all the spots up & down river, we call it a day. 7-1/2 hrs of slinging flies with a 9'-10 & 12 wt's with full sink line & I'm ready for a short Irish Red & a shot of cortisone.

Water was around 52, clear in UN2 & 3, nicely stained in 4,5, & 6. It didn't matter. Nothing was following, nothing was hitting, & nothing was even moving off the bottom of the graph....... for 7 hrs straight. Unusual though, was the absence of weeds on some of the bottom areas.

Like I said, early success means one of two things & I know what kind of day this turned out to be; without a doubt, the best day of musky fishing I had all year. And many, many thanks to Ryan.  It doesn't get any better that that (except for the sandwich)!  Now THAT was better than the day itself!

[John Miller]

John, Mark 's not the only one who enjoys it when you take a few minutes to feed us some of your thoughts, many of which highlight the reasons we all love chasing these majestic beasts. Thanks for all the effort you put into this club.

[John Pensyl]

I put the 65lb maxcuatro on the Lexa 300 9' ti mh combo I use for pike. Was faded and furry after a few outings just like the old stuff. Didn't seem as noisy tho. I go through a ton of line when I use power pro. Seems like I'm stripping tons of line off every time out trying to ditch the furry white stuff. Cortland masterbraid or ohero I don't have that issue. The ohero bleeds everywhere the first day tho. Legit will stain your hands, deck and clothes for an hour but then it stops and holds good color. After my trip to the georgian bay in october I noticed it nicked up more than the masterbraid from the shoals. That masterbraid seems like a clear winner but who knows what I'll find next year. Always tinkering.